Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-03-26
Written for TIE EVENING STAR
ARlADNE IN THE WIRErGRASS.
By LOUIS PENDLEToN,
Author OF "The Story of Black DAM "Tne Set
tlement at Indian Pond etc,
Copyright 1881

upon Itself; mind, though revetng In the glories
OF nature, which is gnawed by a ceaSeless craving
LOT what pure nature does not give The lonely
misunderstood, pointed-at unhappiness OF such
ones Is q tragedy too subtle for words. One would
Ian say 1t were better for such ones had they been
born, IKE their neighbors, with the mental horizon
bounded by the corn-neld and the settlement, the
spinning-wheel and the country dance
Inc case lover at solomon Walkers was In
SunlS SayS remarkable- young girl there had
1eEeioped In strange, unheard-of way, and her
eIlshIS necessarily could not be comprehended
ara were misunderstood. Not essentially unlike
htr riendS In the beginning, IL was a gradual
sIoHth Win her and one which stole upon them
all unawareS, as It were-thOugh old MIS-. walker
Claimed TO have had her misgfvinos nom the first
Sar i1 h-t tnea sne was however, from the day OF
passing strange tt was indeed that a babe born In
o one Tar interior OF this back-woods w1re-grass
country should have been called, not Sarah or
AriadneI 80
-, That was one Of the unfortunate mistakes Solo
mon WAker thought In after life He had had no
hand in II. II was the school teacher who had
uohe IL on the young wife's invitation,-that
strange wise man Who knew everything about the
ancient world and nothing about the modern who
had fallen among them sick. belated stranger,
a school, and who was tender,y cared for nnffl he
died, leaving them his blessing and his books. He
Called her Ariadne because she came with the
opening OF the spring. But this was not all Solo
mon walker always deplored that this young
wife had died while The babe was yet in arms,
her,'-that there were no young companions for
her ABOUT The lonesome place,-and especially
That she tuck seeh curisome notion ter them
poOhS the dead Schoolmaster had unfortunately
left In her path Through these he traced ac-
cuinulatlnS causes OF what they came ar last TO
look upon IS Ariadne's strange distemper. Old
Mrs. Walker, who believed in signs went
iGrtner She pointed out that on the day OF
Adriadne's birth the waters OF the lake had begun
10 Slnk-a sinking which had gone ON Till only a
little water remained here and there I'm small
pools, one OF which appeared 10 be bottomless.
yard and joined their wild kindred In the swamp.
HAD IL been any other than the mystic number
seven, MIa Walker doubtless would not have been
uistuIoed; as IL was, she noted "bad sign"
then and there, and aiterward In her own peculiar
way connected it with all that was ''curisOme"
about her granddaughter.
fhey discussed all this afterward-nOt in the
beginning, for Ariadne developed from babyhOod
into bright, dOcle little girl, strong OF limb and
beautiful or feature the light OF her fathers eye
ana an eVer-cheerfng companion TO the grand
mother through her lonely hours. The place was
far remote and lonely 10 degree which can hardly
De conceived by the man OF our modern world.
The domain OF the nearest neighbor was eight
niles away; the little country church was farther
yet by two miles or more. The Walkers were not
renowned as professors" (of religion) and but
rarely made the Journey TO the church, where little
Arfadne was taken more rarely still and so it was
that the child grew up almost without any kRowi-
edge whatever OF people and things existing be-
yond the boundaries OF her fathers forest home.
At point where two roads met four miles away
was little log house. OF one room OnIy where the
usual ''three-monthS' school" OF the back-woodS
was taught. HIther Ar1aQne came in her tenth
year, riding away from her home every morning
81 sunrise ON the back OF a dOcile mule which Was
selected because DO urging could force him out OF
q walk. During four successive summers she rode
this slow-paced animal every day 10 the humble
Temple OF learning at the CROSSROADS receiving in
this way twelve months of schooling IN all. She
learned TO read and write-twO Accomplishments
Which, together with the rudiments of the science
or NOW ter Inquire, made up the sum OF those pos
seSSed by the teacher himself who was OF Ioral re-
nown merely, and not imported, like the one who
had died This man took considerable pride in
'erp ~ ~ Spl yaIk
ers" although Ut times she annoyed him sadly by
her questions, which often reached beyond his
limited horizon IL was said that she stalled
him several times day toward tie last and the
unhappy man was doubtless greatly relieved " hen
her father decided that she needed to attend the
school no more.
No one was alarmed, as yet. however Ariadne'S
real d1Stemper dated from her discovery. when
fourteen years old, OF the dead schOOl-maSter'S
books which had been packed away In some far
corner. On that very day she aStOnished Old Mrs
Walker by inQuirfng what goddess was and ask
Ing her II she had ever seen one. The grand-dame
replied that she had never ''hearn tell Of any such
thing, although she had "been roun' good BIT In
there; s,in there might be such a thing in DOoly-
she could not speak Tor DOOly. About the same
time Ariadne asked her father where Greece was
low Lar away, etc.; and as he had never heard
OF that country, and the name suggested no more
nor .ess than the essence OF bacon, solomon Walk
erS feelings may be Imagined.
Her questions meeting no answers Ariadne's
Imagination supplied answers for herself and 1t
was strange world which she constructed
Henceforward she was welded TO the school
masters books With the school textbooks She
accomplished but little, and soon put them by;
but there wefe the TRANSACTIONS OF the works OF
three ancient Greek historians, Herodotrs, Thucy-
dides and Xenophon, whice she read and re-read
In The course OF time, sliding blindly over the
words she could not understand, and going on.
always going on, and receiving vivid, inenacaDle
tpI sssgs among the books were also
ce5 IN English, PopeS translation of the lilac. and
acopy OF shsKespeare-alIoi which she read many
times. her mind ut last becoming 20 charged with
the spirit ami even the language OF these poets
that at times she unconSciOuSly spoke In pom-
pous, nall rhythmic sentences, which her hear
ers could only compare with what the preacher
read out OF job. It Is not hard to Imagine the
effect OF these ancient authors on a hungry mind
shut out from the modern world. without in
struction, companlonship or sympathy, Arladne
grew 10 depend upon and sank more and more
built up on Greek forms, tempered only by the
more modern Shakespeare, and colOred but little
by the realities OF her actual human environment.
Though she steadily performed her tasks about the
house with willing, pracJiced hand, and was
never found wanting where her duty called, iI was
all done with An absent mind, the waJchrul
grandmother never tailed to see, with her fingers
and outer eyes only concerned with the spinning
wheel or the needle she wandered f;sr away
through her strange fantastic world. so she grew
up an absent, dreamy, peculiar creature Ia reality
and doubly 50 TO the eyes which watched her.
"Aer brains Is added, old Mrs. Walker began 10
say az last, and the unhappy father Looked on In
dumb regret that his one fair offspring should be
so different from everyone in their world The
Old grandmother now TOOK credit TO herself for her
anxious forecasts U, long ago. Different, was she?
What else was 10 De expected OF girl with that
OUtiandiSh Dame-a girl whose birth had been sig
naltZed so MIS-. Walker claimed by such
-bad signs' the Wild flight OF the seven turkeys
and the discharge OF the lakes waters into the
bowels OF the earth? And truly, We can hardly
blame her Tor believing strange Influences must
have been At work 10 produce in the Offspring OF
solomon and Lucy Walker being Of such char
acter..
Adriane was sadly alone but she had a world OF
her Own and was lot unhappy. Day and night
she peopled the woods and fields and waters WITH
her fancfeS. She feared nOthing,-wander1ng
alone In Tue. Wild woods Tar from home and Slip
ping out and strolliny by the lone lake shore un-
der the moon At night. In the widest thunder
storm, when the great oaks bent and gruaned and
the little house qJake1, she stood on the damp
piazza and looked and listened. The terrific glory
lightning, which drove old Mrs. Walker whining
70 ner feather bed, moved this ardent nature with
DO meaner emotion than rapturouS awe For.
merry SIZE had Teen fond OF cruwning herself with
wreaths OF white flowers as she came home from
the woods; now she crowned herself with thin
light wreaths Of parsley. and old Mrs. Walker
noted the change with painful misglytn2S all
unaware that what she dcspiSed as q weed and
gave 70 the pigs Was the esteemed parsley out OF
which the Greeks made ulletS for the yfctOrs in
their gaines, 10 be crowned with which was 10
achieve deaIhless fame.
The lake was three or four miles long And nj
some points almost TWO miles wide. This con-
the bowels Of the earth IN a single day; the per
ceptibie sinking had indeed begun on the day OF
Ariddne'S birth, but it Was some weeks ere the
lake had quite barred It's bottom TO the SUM- and
three months or more were gone before the water
was entirely replaced and . normal condition
ensued- Twice during Ariadne's lifetime was
this curious phenomenon repeated The watery
.r.zd To tx. nj